Moonlit Walk [Safira, Verdada]

The strain of muscle was so rarely audible. The steady stretch and creak of bones and ligaments as a creatures own strength tested its own durability. The haunting harmony of a feminine voice accompanying the sudden pop of a joint leaving its socket.

The subject had finally wrenched its shoulder from the arm that was pinned to the floor. Just enough so that it could lift its headz saline running down its mask as it then slammed its head back down into the bloodied sand. At long last enough force that its skull caved in, and the glow of its eyes faded.

Verdada’s lips curved into a wider smile as she stared at the results. Four of them dead. One of them as still alive. Bodies broken in so many different ways. Some had dashes their own skulls against the ground. Others had tore their own flesh with their teeth until they had bled out. And her winner: rasping on the ground.

She held her palm over the creature’s mask. And pressed until there was a loud crunch. This sadly wasn’t her base at home, there would be no follow up teste. These were disposable subjects. Still, it seemed that pitch and volume had no effect on the results. The fatality rate seemed to still be around 60% overall. Perhaps the amount of energy could be dialed back? But even more, she still wasn’t sure what was causing the reaction.

Hm. Maybe human test subjects would be necessary.

A sigh escaped her and she brought her cigarette to her lips as the distant tingle of a reiatsu was picked up by her pesquisa. An arrancar. A strong one.

But there was no hostile buzz to their reiatsu. Curious. They seemed almost similar to tier in force, and so Verdada turned to watch as they approached. She didn’t recognize them. She waited patiently, prepared to open a garganta if she was attacked. But even prepared for that, she smiled at the woman as they arrived at her test site.

”Buenos Noches, you wouldn’t happen to have any food on you? Forgot to bring myself a snack” she greeted with placid curiosity. Though fatigue hung at the very edges of her words.

That tired smile of hers grew sheepish as she gave slight turn to her body to face them properly. ”Bold? De Nada. Just tired, Señora. I’m not in your way am I? Or is there something I can do for you?” She ventured with a gentle tilt of her head and a gentle sweeping gesture at her wrist. Her voice a bit more hospitable now that she’d heard their voice.

No tremors. No scanning stare. No telltale signs of paranoia or ferocity. Good, so feigning weakness wouldn’t be necessary. The gait had spoke of confidence, but now she could see it was genuine and not fabricated.

But she didn’t introduce herself unprompted. Such might be construed as a gesture of self importance. And she wasn’t looking to get mauled today.

Well that was unfortunate. She probably should have just dipped when they were approaching. Not much she could do about it now.

”Hm.” she turned her attention to the bloody mess, a portion of which was indeed in the path of this Transient Husk.

Fresh and bloated too. Interesting.

She crouched down and peeled the corpae that was directly within the woman’s path before she offered a gentle smile and bowed at the waist. ”I’ve made a bit if a mess. Sand isn’t really something you can just clean. If you don’t mind me being a bit rough, I can clear a path.” she offered.

Verdada nodded her head and proceeded to move the creatures out of the way, clearing a space for the arrancar. However, the question that was posed by the powerful arrancar did catch her a bit by surprise, her head tilting a bit in the woman's direction before she chuckled slightly and paused her cleanup, a little...amused. She was asked why she had killed a bunch of hollows? How very much hueco mundo had changed in these last few years, that the woman did not simply assume that it had been mere whim, or self defense. But she didn't dally in her reply.

"I did not actually think they would die. And to be technical, I didn't kill them. They all killed themselves. But I suppose that's splitting hairs." The arrancar noted, resuming her removal of the bodies as she promptly rolled over one of the bodies, showing off that the only injuries, was a plunge straight through the mask, its own clawed hand still embedded within their skull. Probably the most obvious of the group, at least that she could see.

"There is an ability I developed, based of what I've experienced from another arrancar. She had an ability to channel her nature as a hollow into a song. As an arrancar that also uses sound, I thought to emulate the effect, however, the results were very much unexpected. I suppose in that way, this was an accident. As I had not expected that this would be the song's effect." She explained softly and calmly, delivering the information as neutrally as could be as if it were a clinical presentation.

Verdada raised a brow for a moment at Safira's question and canted her head a bit to the side. For a moment, she almost laughed, but a smile wasn't a wise thing to crack at this particular moment. "Because whether I like it or not, I'm not quite built like that~ I'm a scientist. And sure, I could take apart my own existing powers. But I do do that~ I just also do this." She responded to the woman with a lopsided smile, one that bled so much fatigue and manic exhausted joy at the subject. That this was such an exhausting process, but one that ultimately gave her some modicum of mirth and security.

"Why should I be satisfied with only my own powers? Besides. If I was intent on just becoming nebulously stronger, those yield limited results. I'm sure you have probably never experienced it. But becoming simply stronger will not mean you succeed in your endeavors. Someone stronger than you will arrive." She chimed and then smiled as she patted one of the dead hollows.

"Like these dear fellows. Even if I HAD pushed myself and been on the proverbial Gym routine. I wouldn't have been able to take all of them. And thanks to my inquiry and experimentation. I didn't have to. The weak thing that I am. I was able to kill every single one of them without any effort on my own end. I will eventually grow. Such is the kind of life I lead. But when I get there, I'll need a way to deal with those who have destroyed themselves to get even stronger than me. And that means being creative. And one should never look a source of inspiration in the mouth." She hummed in idle rambling.

A speech that ultimately would probably fall on deaf ears.

After all. Surely Safira has never and WOULD never, encounter some random bigger fish that would kick her in these well-earned gains of hers, right?~

But alas such ignorance was a bliss Verdada could not afford.

She'd seen Algos herself fall in much the same way these hollows had.